News:EU could turn to 'crowd sourcing' in cyber crime fight

By Brian Wheeler Political reporter, BBC News
Cyber crime The public could help track down criminals operating in cyber space

Millions of internet users across the EU could be encouraged to join the fight against cyber crime if a ground breaking experiment in "crowd sourcing" goes ahead.

The director of Europol told peers he wants to get net users directly involved in catching cyber crime gangs.

Rob Wainwright briefed a Lords EU sub-committee on plans for a European cyber crime centre.

He said the extent of the problem was often underestimated in the EU.

And criminal gangs were becoming more sophisticated in their use of technology, which was spreading into the world of "offline" crime such as drug and people trafficking and VAT fraud, which netted criminals in the EU 100bn euros (£85bn) last year alone.more here